Cargill Makes 22-Thousand Dollar Grant To HCTEA

Surrounded by students and staff from both Cargill and HHS, Beverly Exposito from Cargill gives HHS Principal Ronn Roehm a check for $22,000 for the NAO H25 robot.

Thanks to a grant from Cargill, the Hutchinson Career and Technical Education Academy at Hutchinson High School will have a new “employee” in a couple weeks.

Standing in at 23-inches, this newbie will provide instruction in real world robotics to students in several classes at HCTEA.

The $22,000 is being used to purchase an Aldebaran Robotics NAO H25 robot from DEPCO LLC in Pittsburg, Kan., as well as associated software licenses, curriculum and maintenance. Wednesday, a group of local Cargill employees presented Ronn Roehm, HHS principal, with the check for the grant.

The Cargill employees were then given a guided tour of HCTEA by Steve Stacey, electronics and computer networking teacher at the academy. Many of Stacey’s classes will use the robot.

The 23-inch-tall humanoid robot has a multitude of sensors and has the ability to synthesize speech as well as has 25 degrees of freedom for extreme mobility. More information on the robot is available at http://www.aldebaran-robotics.com/en/Discover-NAO/Key-Features/hardware-platform.html.

Hey Charles, sorry you are so bitter about all the lay-off’s. It is understandable when you consider how it effects people, their finances, their families, the economy, etc. But, let me expand your horizon. $22K grant is just a drop in the bucket for such a large company, and in reality probably less than 30% of ONE workers yearly income. Additionally, the $22k went for a very good cause, the investment in our youths future! Multiply people (Hutchinson High School students) will benefit from from this generous donation. Did you know this will teach these students to learn programming in 6 different program languages? Did you know that it will help students to learn the algorithm rhythm involving speech & facial recognition? How about expanding students knowledge of electrical circuits and electrical engineering? From a parent who’s child will benefit from this learning tool, THANK YOU CARGIL for this generous donation and the opportunity / experiences my HHS child will receive (without paying from my pocket mega $$$ for college tutition for learning this at the best high school in this area). Please google the “NAO H25″ for future information, Thanks!